延 (yán): to prolong, to extend, to delay
延 (yán) is a Chinese character meaning “to prolong.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 丿 (structural) and 㢟 (structural). It ranks #1102 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 延 a foot on the road 㢟 stopped in its tracks 丿. Its radical form 廴 (stride) appears in many related characters such as 建 (jiàn, to establish), 廷 (tíng, palace courtyard).
Definitions
- to prolong
- to extend
- to delay
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA foot on the road 㢟 stopped in its tracks 丿
Decomposition: ⿱丿㢟 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 延 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 延
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 拖延verb | tuō yán | to delay | 6 |
| 延长verb | yán cháng | to prolong | 5 |
| 延续verb | yán xù | to continue | 6 |
| 延期verb | yán qī | to delay | 6 |
| 延伸verb | yán shēn | to extend | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 蔓延verb | màn yán | to extend |
| 延迟verb | yán chí | to delay |
| 延误verb | yán wù | to postpone (with unfortunate consequences) |
| 延缓verb | yán huǎn | to defer |
| 苟延残喘phrase | gǒu yán cán chuǎn | (idiom) to struggle on whilst at death's door |
| 延边proper-noun | yán biān | see 延邊朝鮮族自治州|延边朝鲜族自治州 |
| 绵延verb | mián yán | (esp. of a mountain range) to be continuous |
| 顺延verb | shùn yán | to be postponed accordingly (e.g. due to weather or other stated factors) |
| 延年益寿phrase | yán nián yì shòu | (idiom) to prolong life |
| 推延verb | tuī yán | to procrastinate |
| 延展性noun | yán zhǎn xìng | ductability |
| 夏延proper-noun | xià yán | Cheyenne, capital of Wyoming |
| 外延noun | wài yán | extension (semantics) |
| 延安proper-noun | yán ān | see 延安市 |
| 延平proper-noun | yán píng | see 延平區|延平区 |
延 appears in 79 compound words: 68 as the first character, 22 as the last, and 10 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 延 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (4)
Example Sentences
这个延字的意思与它的部首有关。
zhè gě yán zì de yì sī yú tā de bù shǒu yǒu guān .
The meaning of the character 延 is related to its radical.
高永表挨轰后回稳!金泽延飙154公里 WBC韩国队热身赛3连胜
gāo yǒng biǎo āi hōng hòu huí wěn ! jīn zé yán biāo 1 5 4 gōng lǐ W B C hán guó duì rè shēn sài 3 lián shèng
Gao Yongbiao stabilized after being bombarded! Kanazawa extended 154 kilometers and won 3 consecutive warm-up matches for the WBC South Korean team
...东方日报世界视线】美国若击败伊朗 战火或延至台海
. . . dōng fāng rì bào shì jiè shì xiàn měi guó ruò jī bài yī lǎng zhàn huǒ huò yán zhì tái hǎi
... Oriental Daily World Vision] If the United States defeats Iran, the war may extend to the Taiwan Strait
世界视线:美国若击败伊朗 战火或延至台海
shì jiè shì xiàn : měi guó ruò jī bài yī lǎng zhàn huǒ huò yán zhì tái hǎi
World Perspective: If the United States defeats Iran, the war may extend to the Taiwan Strait
再遇瓶颈 NASA载人登月任务恐延至4月
zài yù píng jǐng N A S A zài rén dēng yuè rèn wù kǒng yán zhì 4 yuè
Another bottleneck NASA's manned lunar mission may be postponed to April
冬奥/苦等46年 美国男子冰球延长赛绝杀加拿大夺金
dōng ào kǔ děng 4 6 nián měi guó nán zǐ bīng qiú yán cháng sài jué shā jiā ná dà duó jīn
Winter Olympics/46 years of waiting, the U.S. men's ice hockey playoff defeated Canada to win gold
火势以扇形迅速蔓延。
Huǒshì yǐ shànxíng xùnsùmànyán.
The fire spread out in a fan-shape.
这些措施可以预防疾病蔓延。
Zhèxiē cuòshī kěyǐ yùfáng jíbìng mànyán.
These measures can prevent the disease from spreading.
由于火车延误，我迟到了。
Yóuyú huǒchē yánwu, wǒ chídào le.
I was late as a result of the train delay.
由于天气恶劣，飞机延误了。
Yóuyú tiānqì èliè, fēijī yánwu le.
The plane was late due to bad weather.
Character Family
廴 Radical Family — Characters sharing the stride radical
Frequently Asked Questions
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What characters sound the same as 延 (yán)?
Is 延 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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